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OIL PRESS.

No. 458,002. Patented Aug. 18, 1891.

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P. RIBARD OIL PRESS (No Modl.)

No. 458,002. Patented Aug. 18, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL RIBARD, OF TOULON, FRANCE.

OIL-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 458,002, dated August18, 1891.

Application filed November 20, 1890. Serial No.87 2,108. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PAUL RIBARD, a citizen of France, residing atToulon,in the Department of the Var, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Oil-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to certain structural arrangements in pressesdesigned to separate automatically solid from liquid parts which arefound united in certain bodies, and in particular to extract oil fromoleaginous substances.

In the machine constructed in accordance with my invention the substanceto bepressed is introduced automatically into a chamber or closed spaceprovided with a metallic filtering surface, described hereinafter, andforming an important part of my invention. The substance reduced to athin layer by the powerful compression of a reciprocating piston loses agreat portion of the liquid which it contains and pushes before it apiece placed against a reacting-spring. This piece, which I shall call aregulating-valve, and which will be described in detail hereinafter, hasfor its object to reduce the substance to a thin layer, which, pressedagainst the filtering-surface, allows the oil to run out freely and thesubstance to be discharged from the press after it has'been subjected toa given minimum pressure and has remained subjected to that pressure fora given time, which may be regulated and varied at will by means of thesprings.

This device constitutes an important improvement in the production ofoil, as will be explained hereinafter. Heretofore valves similar to myregulating-valves have been constructed, but they are in fact onlysimple valves, which allowed the substance to go out from the pressbefore the spring begins to act, so that the oil or other liquid has notsufficient time to run out and remains in part in the cake. On the otherhand,such valves allow a compact massto remain in the press and of suchthickness that the substance touches only at its periphery thefilteringsurface, through which the oil is obliged to pass beforearriving at the outlets. This inconvenience is avoided in the sort ofvalve described below.

For the better understanding of my invention I have shown by way ofexample in the accompanying drawings a form of press in accordance withmy system, showing only the details of construction concerning theessential points of my invention.

Figure 1 is a transverse section showing the general arrangement of myoil-press, the gears being shown only by their circumference in dottedlines. Fig. 2 is an elevation of a press having two filtering-cylinderswhich are identical in construction. In this figure the feedingappliances are removed for the sake of greater clearness. On the left isa section of a filtering-cylinder and on the right an exterior View ofanother cylinder like the first. Fig. 3 shows a number offilteringblades placed together, and seen also in Fig. 9, which is a topView. Fig. 4 shows one of the faces of said blades, also seen in Fig. 8,in horizontal section on line xwof Fig.4. Fig. 5 is a section, on alarger scale, of a filteringcylinder, designed to illustrate moreclearly the form of regulating-valve employed. Fig. 6 is a horizontalsection of same valve on line at a; of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 shows the centralportion of the filtering-cylinder, half of which is shown in horizontalsection on line 19 r, Fig. 2, (the upper partof figure,) half in plan,

the cap being removed, (lower part of figure.) v

Figs. 7 and 8 are cross-sections of Figs. 3 and I at its lower end bythe cylindrical casting E E, called a cap. This casting E E is pro videdwith an opening S, designed to admit the substance which enters themachine. The body of the press 13 Bis a cylindrical casting pierced withopenings 1), all opening into a circular trough r. The outside cylinderserves to support the steel cylinder Cy, provided with aperturescorresponding to the holes 1) in the body of the press and provided onthe interior with eight vertical mortises, in each of which are incasedthe vertical filtering-blades in juxtaposition. This arrangement isclearly shown in Fig. 7. Two steel washers g g serve to fix the positionof the blades and are designed to sustain the wear of the machine.

The filtering-blades shown in Figs. 3 and 4 j are rectangular pl ates ofsteel of suitable thick- Fig. 6.

ness, according to the place they are to occupy, as shown in Fig. 7.These plates are planed upon one of their faces, like a knife-blade,upon which is left a series of little triangular projections, Fig. 4,forming bearing-faces, so that when the blades lie together-in a group,as shown in Fig. 3, each will lie against the unplaned side of the otheradjacent one. The spaces or openings between the blades may be as narrowas desired (one-tenth of a millimeter, for example) upon the interiorsurface of the cylinder, and they may be enlarged toward the exterior.These constitute outlets for the oil. The tenons d d, with which the twoends of the blades are provided,rest upon the annular shoulders of thewashers g g, and retain the said blades in their positions.

It is not necessary that the blades should be of the same thicknessthroughout, so as to fit mortises of uniform width, as shown in thedrawings, since obviously the blades may converge more or less towardthe axis of the cylinder.

The base of the body of the press rests upon a table cast with theframe; and the press is secured upon this table by means of four boltsLL, Fig. 2. This table is hollowed in the center, and is provided with ashoulder F, designed to center accurately the body of the press.

The regulating-valve R is a metallic piece provided at its upper portionwith a conical point and upon the sides with three grooves orrecessesseparated by three wings Z Z Z", This valve is placed upon a stem V,which is provided with a metallic ring U, against which bears a seriesof circular Belleville springs s, the whole resting upon the bottom ofthe frame. A hole pierced in the frame serves as a guide for the lowerpart of the stem V. The bottoms of the three grooves or recesses of theregulating-valve are inclined and follow the inclination of the cone, ofwhich the line I I, Fig. 5, is the generatrix. This inclination may bevaried according to the nature of the oleaginous substance to betreated, and the thickness or depth of the grooves (represented at E,Fig. 6) may be varied in like manner to regulate the thickness of thelayer of cake which may be allowed to accumulate between the valve andfiltering-surface. The function of the wings Z is to divide the matterand cause it to press in thin layers against the filtering-blades. Theyalso serve as guides, keeping the valve in line with the axis of thecylinder.

The Belleville springs, which support the regulating-valve, are suchthat half the extent of their total compression, flattened as each pairshould be at a given pressure, is equal to the length I I, Fig. 5. Itis, in fact, this distance which the valve (shown in its initialposition in dotted lines in Fig. 5) ought to move against the resistanceof the springs before the oil-cake contained in the recesses can find anoutlet from the press.

The operation is as follows: Let us suppose the press to be clean andempty. Thegrains are introduced into a hopper B, Fig. 1. They may bewhole or crushed or rolled; but they should at all events be hulled andcleared of all foreign matters. The slide T receives from the crank it areciprocatory movement derived from the principal shaft by a belt e (orgearing may be used.) This belt is geared in such manner that just asthe piston uncovers the opening S the slide T pushes forward a charge ofthe grains, which fall into the press. After the action of the piston-Pthe slide is withdrawn and disappears under the bottom of the hopper R.Thus when the opening Sis closed the grains are compressed in a closechamber and the oil is forced out. Almost immediately a mixture of airand liquid will begin to ooze through the filter and runs toward thetrough r. The piston eontinues to descend; but as it has alreadytraversed more than half of its course its speed diminishes, which is anadvantageous point, because, the cake being formed,the interstices inwhich the oil should circulate in passing through the cake on its way tothe outlets become capillary. More time must, therefore, be allowed forits escape. If the power were too great in the propulsion of thesubstance, the liquid would remain in part in the cake. This novelarrangement of regulating-valve is very important, inasmuch as it givesto the oil ample time to escape-that is, the time which the valve takesto cover the distance I I Fig. 5-instead of permitting the cake toescape as soon as the pressure has attained a sufficient power tocompress the spring, be it ever so slight.

Let us continue to analyze the function of. the machine. The piston Pfinishes its course; but as we are considering the first stroke of thepiston the regulating-valve has not been able to move the distance I I,Fig. 5, as the pressure has not yet been sufiicient, and the cake, inpart exhausted, finds sufiicient space to lodge in the recesses of thevalve. As the piston recedes, the slide T advances toward the entrance Sand feeds a second charge beneath the piston. On the next stroke of thepiston more oil is expressed and more cake is formed, for which there isnow insufficient room. Consequently as the pressure increases theregulating -valve R yields the distance I 1, against the pressure ofsprings s, and under the increasing pressure the exhausted matter whichfills the channels of the valve begins to escape from the cylinder andthe friction of the compressed mass maintains the regulating-valve inposition until the piston shall have completed its descent.

It will be understood that the discharge of the thoroughlyexhaustedmatter can only be eifected at a great pressure, and only after thispressure has been maintained for a certain timenamely, while the valveis moving over the distance I I. When the piston P begins to reascend,the valve in pressing the substance remaining in the press against thebottom of piston P ascends also. This movement continues and thepressureincreases proportionately until the reaction of the springs is equalizedby the friction of the drained matter, which remains in the recesses ofthe valve. WVhen the grains of which the cake is composed have beencompressed, the valve ascends to its initial position. If the cake isclose-fittin g, wrinkled, or adheres to the metal, the reaction of thesprings will not be complete, and the point I will remain after eachstroke somewhere between I and I, Fig. 5. Whatever happens and whatevergrain is treated, after two or three first strokes of the piston thevalve will return obviously to the same position.

The machine is regular in its operation notwithstanding slightvariations that may occur in the volume or weight of each charge, whichmay cause the valve to open or close a little sooner or later and notexactly at the point when the springs have been compressed to half thefull extent. After several strokes of the piston the cake produced willbe a uniform composition.

In the preceding description I have described the springs as Bellevillesprings; but it is obvious that any other equivalent elastic devices maybe used without departing from the spirit of my invention. I reservealso the right to substitute the dash-pot of a hydraulic press for thesprings, so placed that the axis of the piston of these presses occupiesexactly the place of the axis of the stems V, guiding the springs. Thesedash-pots of the hydraulic press receive water under pressure derivedfrom a hydraulic accumulation, for example.

I claim- 1. In a filter-press for the extraction of oil from oleaginoussubstances and for like purposes, the combination, with a cylinderhaving a series of mortises, of filtering-surfaces composed of plates orblades of steel laid face to face and provided with projections orbearings and intervening spaces for the escape of liquid, said platesbeing supported in said mortises, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the cylinder and piston or compressing deviceof a filter-press, of a regulating-valve and its springs, said valvehaving a cylindrical body which fits in a cylindrical valve-opening ofthe press, so that the valve cannot open to permit escape of thematerialtreated until such material has been subjected to a certain minimumcompression, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the cylinder having filtering-surfaces and apiston or compressing device, of a regulating-valve set and held in thevalve-opening by the resistance of powerful springs and arranged to openthe discharge-outlet only after it has traveled a certain distance, asspecified, said valve being provided with a conical point and withguiding wings and intervening grooves or recesses in which the cake iscompressed against said filtering-surfaces, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

PAUL RIBARD.

l/Vitnesses:

F EsNIER, Employ (t la Mairiede Toulon, Q Reg 0w mel.

TROTOBAN, Employ de la Metric de Toulon, Rue Duquesne, 16.

